The tireless MoveOn.org is giving free Obama buttons away to anybody willing to part with their email, mobile number and address data. (What a tradeoff!) Packages include:
o One free Obama button.
o Three Obama buttons for a $2 donation. Just think how spiffy your tatty old backpack will look this September.
o 45 BUTTONS for a $20 donation, which, stylewise, would put you in direct in competition with this here little lady.
A moving ticker on MoveOn's site reports over 1,776,804 buttons have been ordered so far. I smell a trend afoot. Don't get left behind!
At left: featured ad on my MySpace today. I like how, after scaring the warmth out of your cockles, it takes the ultra-subtle "click here for tips!" approach.
Click-thru brings you here. I'm guessing the ad is for Celebrity Sexy Teeth, because it's the only product on the list I've never actually heard of, and it happens to be number one, and there's even a handy-dandy illustration on how you (yes, YOU!) can access a hidden discount link on the site.
Suspicions are confirmed upon scrolling to the bottom of the site, where Celebrity Sexy Teeth is promoted once more for good measure alongside this subtle arm-twister: "For women wanting to enhance their appearance, a good teeth whitener is a must!"
But I thought Mr. Right, and my ass-pinching boss, would love me no matter what I looked like?
Toyota wants to be your friend. It wants to lavish you with gifts, invite you into its inner circle, suckle from your ideas. From now until September 10, members of its social network HEYA can pitch the company their :30 ad ideas.
And no, the HEYA thing has nothing to do with Andre3000's frequently mashed-up hit. "Heya" is Japanese for "room," and Toyota thought it would be a good name for an intimate, join-the-round-table! kinda social network.
Sign up here. (Damn, that's a lot of questions. Toyota's not fuckin' around!) Once IN!, you're free to submit write-ups or storyboards for a :30 ad concept. The top five will be chosen, and members vote for the best one.
Finalists are announced September 16; the winner is named September 22. In addition to airtime, the grand prize includes a Flickr Pro account membership. (Diggin' how it knows what people want.) Runners-up get a 1GB iPod shuffle.
Still others can be used as weapons for the defenseless. That's the impression we got from this ad by Amnesty International, which is admittedly about a year old and maybe 1:30 too long. The animation and the idea are good though, and I like the sound of the scribble over the music.
Walking in the footsteps of Jay-Z and Nelly, Justin Timberlake is backing a line of expensive but delightfully ass-perking denim wear: William Rast, launched in partnership with Trace Ayala. (The brand is a combination of their grandfathers' first names.)
I haven't seen any TV ads, but the site's hosting trailers about the life of fictional character William Rast, played by Justin Timberlake. Mostly he's seizing the opportunity to forget shaving, play with make-up and explore self-fellating videocam angles. Oddly (or not so much), they made me think of Tila Tequila's video blog.
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It's always a little irksome when a film boasts an "all-star cast," because if THAT'S the card it's playing, there's probably not much else going on.
The Women, a remake of a movie from 1939, has just such a cast. Think Candace Bergen! Annette Benning! Jada Pinkett-Smith! Meg Ryan! Bette Midler! Eva Mendes! It's a walking, talking line-up for the cover of next month's Vanity Fair.
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- Because what the world needs now is a hot blogger calendar.
- The CW's decided to let advertisers see snippets of 90210's content after all. I guess this means the PTC will be throwing itself a self-congratulatory cocktail party.
- OMG, OMG, a Facebook movie? ...by the co-creator of West Wing? Does that mean there's a parity of significance between Mark Zuckerberg and the ruler of the free world?
- MySpace was the top display ad publisher in June; Microsoft the top display advertiser. Most of its ads were for Live Search.
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Never mind petitions, Greenpeace wants PICTURES. The organization's asking community members to submit photos of dearly-loved things being threatened by global warming. Users are also invited to write a tear-jerking message explaining the photo. All photos and notes will be sent to the Representative for your district.
There were only a couple of submitted photos when I clicked on the link above, and at the time it seemed like it would be hilarious if a bunch of people got together and deluged the site with shots of their ice trays. Then I choked on some tea, and I'm over it now.
- "Fuck it! We'll do it live! Fucking thing sucks!" You tell 'em, Bill, you wild animal you.
- The hood ornament is an endangered species. Is this what people want? We can save pandas but not the Spirit of Ecstasy?!
- New Shepard Fairey exhibition in SF: "Duality of Humanity." Inspired by Joker, the peace-sign-sporting Vietnam soldier in Full Metal Jacket, the show mashes up conflicting symbols of violence and peace. The project also has a strong Red-propaganda-meets-mass-media feel. Tasty.
- It's Bible stories! And Legos! Suddenly Sunday's looking like a party.
- With a nudge from those rascals at Deep Focus, AMC decides the Mad Men Twitter characters -- which it was so quick to boot -- are okay after all.
- Pepsi apparently did a better job of associating itself with the Olympics than Coke did. And it probably spent a helluva lot less money.
Yell.com, an online service from the Yellow Pages, debuted its first standalone TV campaign this month. The effort revolves around a party planner called Fresno and his whiny little clients, which vibe like rejects from My Super Sweet Sixteen.
This spot went live on August 20. It's about Marcus, a Surrey brat who wants his Roman-themed party changed, practically overnight, to a bling-heavy gangsta-gansta street bash. Fresno, aiming ever to please, insists all this and more can be accomplished at the drop of a (pimptastic!) hat. Meanwhilst, his anxious assistant trots behind him, tapping queries into Yell.com at a feverish pace.
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